Tim Trefzer's guest appearances

Tim Trefzer

Southeast Green - Speaking of Green

Talk with Green Guy

The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

Sustainable Nation

Ray C. Anderson

Matt St

Brittany Bennett

Anne Kelly

Joel Makower

John Harrison

Alan Scott

Jason McLennan

Katharine Wilkinson

Jorge Lopez

Bill Spohn

Levi Strauss

John Rogers

Nate Adams

Larry Johnson

OwlTail

Tim serves on the executive leadership team guiding long-term social and environmental strategy for a 220+ acre campus that includes the 4M SF convention center, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the former Georgia Dome, Centennial Olympic Park, and the upcoming Hilton Signia hotel. GWCCA also operates the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, GA. In this role, he oversees a team focused on executing day-to-day practices including waste diversion and volunteerism. Tim also helped develop and now leads the organization’s first Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) council. Tim Trefzer Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:  Managing sustainability over a large campus COVID-19's impact on the sports world and how GWCCA has given back The value of LEED certification vs. building to standards Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders  Tim's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?  I'd give different advice to professionals in different stages of their careers. If I had to give one common piece of advice, it'd be to network and generate those relationships with other individuals that are in the industry, or maybe even not in the industry. When I moved to Atlanta in 2008, I met with a gentleman who is part of, at the time it was called Sustainable Atlanta, it's evolved into the city's sustainability department. The first thing he told me was, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know in this industry. I've really come to find and believe that that's true. It's really about those connections and sustainability. If you're looking for success, whether it's in a business or just personally, it's all about creating those relationships with other individuals, understanding where they're coming from and getting them speaking their language. I've really found that it's a person to person business, and generating those close relationships and that network with others has been really beneficial to me. That's where I'd say others would also benefit.  What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?  You mentioned it's November and last week was the presidential election. Without getting too political, I'll say that with a Biden administration coming in, I think they will turn the trajectory of our environmental work, at least in this country, around. They, I hope will, reset some of the practices and policies that we've seen change over the last four years. Based on the plan of the Biden administration from an environmental standpoint, rejoining the Paris climate accord, setting very strong targets for the country from a carbon emission reduction standpoint, I'm excited about that. I hope that they'll have a tremendous impact on the world of sustainability, and I believe they will.  What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?  Ray Anderson is a hometown hero in Atlanta, and his book Confessions of a Radical Industrialist, I think is a phenomenal book that any sustainability or business professional should read. Ray Anderson is the founder of Interface, the carpet manufacturing company here in Georgia. It's really just a great book looking at how business can change the world from an environmental standpoint; it can do positive good for both business from a bottom line standpoint, but business from an environmental standpoint. That book, which was written in the nineties, has come to set the standard for business. I think it's just a phenomenal book. That's probably the first of a number of books that Ray Anderson has written that I'd recommend the audience read.  What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?  Some of my go-to resources: GreenBiz, Sustainable Brands. I do a lot of research in the Harvard Business Review, Bass company. One that I've found a lot of value lately has been Boston College's Center for Corporate Citizenship. They provide a lot of great work from a CSR standpoint. But going back to your first question, I think networking and creating those relationships and working with other individuals like US Green Building Council and the Green Sports Alliance, those organizations have really provided a lot of benefits. I've got a number of different resources and tools, but those are some of the ones that stand out.  Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority?  You can go to our website GWCCA.org. You can also find me on LinkedIn, or on Twitter at Tim_Trefzer. Any of those would be great and I'd love to connect with your audience.

Tim serves on the executive leadership team guiding long-term social and environmental strategy for a 220+ acre campus that includes the 4M SF convention center, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the former Georgia Dome, Centennial Olympic Park, and the upcoming Hilton Signia hotel. GWCCA also operates the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, GA. In this role, he oversees a team focused on executing day-to-day practices including waste diversion and volunteerism. Tim also helped develop and now leads the organization’s first Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) council. Tim Trefzer Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: <ul> <li>Managing sustainability over a large campus</li> <li>COVID-19's impact on the sports world and how GWCCA has given back</li> <li>The value of LEED certification vs. building to standards</li> <li>Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders</li> </ul> Tim's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? I'd give different advice to professionals in different stages of their careers. If I had to give one common piece of advice, it'd be to network and generate those relationships with other individuals that are in the industry, or maybe even not in the industry. When I moved to Atlanta in 2008, I met with a gentleman who is part of, at the time it was called Sustainable Atlanta, it's evolved into the city's sustainability department. The first thing he told me was, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know in this industry. I've really come to find and believe that that's true. It's really about those connections and sustainability. If you're looking for success, whether it's in a business or just personally, it's all about creating those relationships with other individuals, understanding where they're coming from and getting them speaking their language. I've really found that it's a person to person business, and generating those close relationships and that network with others has been really beneficial to me. That's where I'd say others would also benefit. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? You mentioned it's November and last week was the presidential election. Without getting too political, I'll say that with a Biden administration coming in, I think they will turn the trajectory of our environmental work, at least in this country, around. They, I hope will, reset some of the practices and policies that we've seen change over the last four years. Based on the plan of the Biden administration from an environmental standpoint, rejoining the Paris climate accord, setting very strong targets for the country from a carbon emission reduction standpoint, I'm excited about that. I hope that they'll have a tremendous impact on the world of sustainability, and I believe they will. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? Ray Anderson is a hometown hero in Atlanta, and his book Confessions of a Radical Industrialist, I think is a phenomenal book that any sustainability or business professional should read. Ray Anderson is the founder of Interface, the carpet manufacturing company here in Georgia. It's really just a great book looking at how business can change the world from an environmental standpoint; it can do positive good for both business from a bottom line standpoint, but business from an environmental standpoint. That book, which was written in the nineties, has come to set the standard for business. I think it's just a phenomenal book. That's probably the first of a number of books that Ray Anderson has written that I'd recommend the audience read. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Some of my go-to resources: GreenBiz, Sustainable Brands. I do a lot of research in the Harvard Business Review, Bass company. One that I've found a lot of value lately has been Boston College's Center for Corporate Citizenship. They provide a lot of great work from a CSR standpoint. But going back to your first question, I think networking and creating those relationships and working with other individuals like US Green Building Council and the Green Sports Alliance, those organizations have really provided a lot of benefits. I've got a number of different resources and tools, but those are some of the ones that stand out. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority? You can go to our website <a href="http://GWCCA.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GWCCA.org</a>. You can also find me on LinkedIn, or on Twitter at Tim_Trefzer. Any of those would be great and I'd love to connect with your audience.

Tim Trefzer - Director of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility at Georgia World Congress Center Authority

Tim Trefzer is a Sustainability &amp; Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at the Georgia World Congress Center. With his team, he creates and establishes the CSR strategy not only for the GWCC but also for, the Centennial Olympic Park, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center. "Green building has definitely leveraged sustainability. It has affected all aspects of organizations aside from the building environment." - Tim Trefzer   Green Super Bowl This podcast is featuring a new format at GBMS Headquarters in Atlanta, GA.  Today is a Town Hall and Tim is going to take us through how the Super Bowl is going to be a very sustainable event even though we can’t see that while watching on television.  The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the first platinum LEED professional sports stadiums in North America. It is one of the greenest sports facilities in the world. Being green brings business to Atlanta and provides more efficient events. “I like to think that we are one of the greenest places in the world for events, conventions, and sports.  It’s definitely a complex campus with a lot of LEED event space.” - Tim Trefzer   Waste Waste helps get LEED points and Atlanta is growing in this area.  Convention Industry standpoint they are one of the leaders. They compost their food waste which is a big part of their waste stream and they donate food and materials when they can and have great relationships with the non-profits.   “We have a lot of construction demolition type material so we work closely with our contractors to separate that material to make sure it is recycled.” - Tim Trefzer   Construction Projects Renovation of Centennial Olympic Park and have a giant sculpture of the Olympic rings-a new selfie spot has just been finished.  An underground cistern has been added to help with water and the water features recycling. In addition, it has been made more pedestrian friendly.  A new hotel, 1,000 rooms, will begin construction in Q4 and will be a LEED Gold facility. Q &amp; A Tune into this podcast in it’s new Town Hall format to listen to the Q &amp; A session hosted by Charlie and Tim.   Connect with Tim Trefzer:         Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES:           Announcement:  Starting on January 1, 2019, GBMS will begin rolling out it’s new membership community.  Members will be given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions to, if you are preparing for an exam there will be more insurances that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member and so much more. If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the ! Copyright © 2019 GBES

Green Super Bowl Town Hall with Tim Trefzer

Tim Trefzer is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which is comprised of the Georgia World Congress Center, Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park. In this position, he has assesses critical needs for improving, measuring and tracking the efficiencies of a variety of operational practices, including waste diversion, energy and water management, procurement, as well as working with clients to make their events more sustainable and educating employees on best practices. As a LEED AP, he has evaluated the costs and identified the hurdles to achieving LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance certification for both the Georgia World Congress Center and Georgia Dome. Tim is a member of the USGBC – Georgia and the Green Meetings Industry Council – Atlanta branch. He is a graduate of Florida State University.

Tim Trefzer is the Sustainability Coordinator for GWCC